


Once Upon a Time

by MixBerkaan



Category: Fairy Tail, Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Sleeping Beauty Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 02:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4417043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MixBerkaan/pseuds/MixBerkaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There have been thousands of retellings, but the facts of the story have remained the same: the Princess pricks her finger upon the spindle, falls into a deep sleep, and, a hundred years later, the dashing Prince swoops in to awaken her with True Love's Kiss. If only the storytellers would have remembered that it was the other way around!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blueboijimin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboijimin/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas gift for my friend, Lily, this is probably the longest one-shot I've written to date. 
> 
> The first section of the story is an almost direct transcript from the 1967 edition of Reader's Digest's "The World's Best Fairy Tales", as compiled by Belle Becker Sideman. This particular version of Sleeping Beauty is from the Andrew Lang Collection, who, in the 1880's and throughout his life, "made the most extensive collection of fairy tales in the English language."
> 
> I made the decision to use the wording of the traditional fairy tale in the beginning as a method of setting the mood, as well as distinguishing the prelude from the main storyline. Hope you enjoy, and reviews are always encouraged and welcomed!

_There once lived a King and a Queen who were sorry they had no children---so sorry that it cannot be expressed. They tried all the curative waters in the world, vows, and pilgrimages, but to no purpose._

_At last, however, the Queen gave birth to a son. There was a very fine christening; and the Prince had for his godparents all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom. They managed to locate seven, and so the Prince was endowed with all the perfections imaginable._

_After the christening, the company returned to the King’s palace, where a great feast was prepared for the fairies. Before every one of them was placed a magnificent casket of massive gold, wherein were a spoon, knife, and fork of pure gold set with diamonds and rubies. But, as they were sitting down at the table, they saw come into the hall a very old fairy who had not been invited. It was more than fifty years since he had been seen, and everyone believed that he was either dead or enchanted._

_The King ordered a place set for him, but could not furnish him with a casket of gold because only seven had been made for the seven fairies. The old fairy felt he was intentionally slighted and muttered some threats between his teeth. One of the young fairies, who sat by him, overheard his grumbling. Judging that he might give the little Prince some unlucky gift, the young fairy went, as soon as they rose from the table, and hid herself behind the drapes so that she might speak last and repair, as much as she could, any evil which the old fairy intended._

_Meanwhile, all the fairies began to offer their gifts to the Prince. The youngest, Wendy, said that the Prince should be the most Handsome in the world. The next, Lucy, came and decreed that he should have an Intelligence to match that of any who might come before him. After was Erza, who was proud to announce he would have the Strength of a hundred soldiers. Fourth came Gray, who stated the Prince would have Charm enough to woo his beloved. Fifth was Juvia, who was happy to grace him with the gift of Music, and sixth was Natsu, who gave the Prince Skill in Combat._

_The old fairy’s turn came next. With his head shaking more with spite than age, José said that the Prince should have his hand pierced with a spindle and die of the wound. This terrible gift made the whole company tremble, and everybody began to weep._

_At this very instant Mavis, the clever young fairy, came out from behind the drapes and spoke these words:_

_“Assure yourselves, O King and Queen, that your son shall not die. It is true, I have no power to undo entirely what my elder has done. The Prince shall indeed pierce his hand with a spindle, But instead of dying, he shall fall into a profound sleep, which shall last for a hundred years. After that time, a king’s daughter shall come and wake him.”_

_The King, to avoid this misfortune, immediately forbade spinning with a distaff and spindle or to have so much as a spindle in the house._

* * *

_About nineteen or twenty years later, the King and Queen happened to be visiting one of their other castles, and the young Prince was diverting himself by running up and down the palace. He came into a little room at the top of the tower, where an old serving woman was spinning with her spindle._

_“What are you doing there, my good woman?” said the Prince._

_“I am spinning, my dear child,” said the old woman._

_“Geehee,” said the Prince, “this is amazing. How do you do it? Might I try?”_

_He had no sooner taken the spindle than it ran into his hand and he collapsed into unconsciousness._

_The good old woman cried out for help. People came and threw water on the Prince’s face, loosened his collar and waved smelling salts beneath his nose. But nothing would bring him to himself._

_Mavis, who had saved the life of the Prince by causing him to sleep a hundred years, was in the kingdom of Bellum, twelve thousand miles off, when this accident befell the Prince. But she was instantly informed of it by a little cat with wings. The fairy came immediately, riding in a fiery chariot drawn by dragons._

_The King, who had since returned, handed her out of the chariot, and she approved everything he had done. But she touched with her wand everything in the palace._

_The minute she touched them they all fell asleep that they might not awake before their master and might be ready to wait upon him when he wanted them. The very spits at the fire, loaded with partridges and pheasants, fell asleep also, as did the fire. This was done in a moment, for fairies are not long in doing their magic._

_And now, her work done, Mavis went out of the Palace, and in a quarter of an hour’s time there grew up all around the park such a vast number of trees, great and small, bushes and brambles, twining so thickly one within another that neither man nor beast could pass through. Nothing could be seen of the castle but the very tops of the towers, and those only from a great distance._

_When a hundred years had passed, another family ruled the kingdom. What happened next has been retold over many years in many ways by many people, and has been twisted to the point of being nearly unreliable. However, whether it be legend, myth, or truth, a story is a story, and when it is loved by many, how can it help but be retold?_

 

* * *

 

“Lucy,” a voice hissed in her ear, “just _what_ are you doing?”

The blonde in question waved a flippant hand over her shoulder. “Shhh,” she replied, “I’m watching”

“Lucy!” another voice shouted in the distance, “Where are you?”

Stifling a giggle with her hand, the blonde crept further into the foliage, hiding herself from sight.

Put out, the pink-haired idiot at her side huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not watching, you’re playing hide and seek.”

“For _heaven’s_ sake, keep your voice down!” Lucy whispered forcefully, “She’ll hear you!”

Lifting his head, Natsu grinned at his companion, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.

Suddenly suspicious, Lucy began to inch towards Natsu, intent on halting whatever plan he had hatched in his ridiculously child-like mind.

“Princess!” he shouted as he spun and hurried towards the path.

There was a breath of shocked silence before the shriek rang out through the forest.

“NATSU!” Lucy jumped and tackled him, causing them to tumble down the small embankment and right to the feet of the little girl who sought her.

“Lucy!” the Princess cried, a grin growing on her face, “Does this mean I win?”

Her glare moving away from Natsu, Lucy found her gaze softening as she looked upon the girl the seven fairies had been tasked with looking after.

“Yes, Princess Levy, I suppose you did,” Lucy replied, chuckling and reaching up to pull a twig from her hair.

“Than that means you’ll read my future, right?”

Sighing dramatically, Lucy flung a hand over her eyes, “Alas, dear Princess, I shall. Ask what terrible question you will of me and I shall answer!”

The eight-year old pursed her lips in deep thought, but didn’t stay that way for long. She was a precocious child, and rather quick to come to decisions.

“Tell me if I’ll have any adventures!” Levy declared, a grin stretching across her face and revealing the hole in her smile from where she had lost a tooth earlier that week.

Laughing, Natsu reached down and picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder. “Really? Adventures? Aren’t princesses supposed to be more interested in lovey-dovey stuff?”

Giggles filled the air as the Princess watched her world go topsy turvy.

“Natsu!” She squealed, finally managing to catch her breath, “I have books to read about love, but no one wants to give a princess books about adventure! Why is that, do you think?” she asked.

Reaching up, Lucy rescued the girl and poked her stomach, “You know,” she said, a gentle smile on her face, “Even I don’t know why. It doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“No!” Levy affirmed with an infuriated pout, “I’ll just have to change that when I get big,”

“You do that, things will be more fun that way,” Natsu said as he plopped down next to the pair, tossing a few blades of grass at Lucy.

“Lucy, my fortune! You promised!” Levy reminded, refusing to release her well-won prize.

“Ahh, yes. One moment, Princess, I must focus my energies.” Lucy said, her grave voice belied by the twinkle in her eye.

Scrunching her nose, Levy mock glared at the blonde, silently telling her to be serious.

Laughing, Lucy rolled her eyes, “Alright, alright.” Leaning over, Lucy placed a single finger in the center of Levy’s forehead and closed her eyes, focusing her energies on the wisps of time that surrounded each and every human. Sorting through them all, Lucy finally settled on one that seemed promising. As she watched the story play out before her eyes, Lucy felt her eyebrows rise and pulled herself back to the real world.

“Natsu?”, she asked in a quiet voice, “do you remember _that_ incident?”

“What incid- Oh” he said, his face suddenly darkening, “What about it?”

“What’s going on?” Levy piped in, though she was uncharacteristically ignored.

“How many years has it been, now?” Lucy whispered, staring at Levy deep in thought.

“‘Bout 90, I think? Why?” Catching the direction of her gaze, Natsu’s eyes widened, “You don’t think?”

“Lucy? Natsu?”

Lucy finally lifted her gaze and raised a single eyebrow, “Think? With your confirmation, I know.”

“Know _what_?” Levy’s frustrated shout finally distracted them from the topic at hand.

Chuckling to herself, Lucy nodded. “Know that you will be having many grand adventures, but they won’t start for another few years yet. So read your books, practice your sparring with Erza and Natsu, and practice your crafting with Juvia and Gray. Your adventure will come in good time.”

The Princess pouted and tried to convince them to tell her more, but to no avail. So, as the sun sank closer to the horizon, the two fairies and the Princess made their way back to the castle.

 

* * *

 

Years passed and the Princess grew in many ways, except upwards. However, she quickly became loved and renown throughout the land for her kindness and intelligence. She could often be found traveling from city to city with none but her fairy companions, all for the sake of visiting or founding libraries. The King and Queen were quite proud of their daughter, and the strong beliefs she held in her heart. Primarily was the need for an educated population, which was the driving factor behind her goal to establish some sort of library in each of the townships they ruled over.

It was during one of these such trips that she saw _it_ for the first time. She had long since learned about the impassable forest that lay in the eastern part of the kingdom, but she had never actually had the opportunity to visit those lands until now.

For all her petiteness, Levy cut a striking figure on horseback, her back straight and blue locks waving and curling around her face. Long years of training with her companions had toned her muscles, and they now flexed beneath the trousers she wore when traveling.

Laughter and jokes were traded amongst the group of eight as they made their way along the road, heading for Oshibana. As they stopped for lunch, Levy just happened to glance in the right direction, and saw the tops of the towers peeking above the dense foliage.

Frowning, she set down her bread and cheese and looked around at the fairies who were in the midst the chaos that usually surrounded them wherever they went.

“What is that?” she asked, pointing towards the distance.

Her question was quiet compared to their noise, but it still was heard clearly and the others quickly fell silent, grim looks replacing the general cheer that once dominated.

After what was beginning to turn into an awkward amount of time, Mavis finally spoke. “It’s the remnant of a disaster that happened a long time ago. We tried to stop what we could, but we were unable to prevent it from happening altogether. Don’t you concern yourself about it, Princess. It’ll be a couple years yet before it will be of consequence.”

There were some small protests from the direction of Gray and Juvia regarding how she had done all she could, but the subject was quickly dropped.

Unwilling to see the uneasiness that took over her friends happen again, Levy allowed the curiosity to fester within her, rather than bring the subject up once more. Instead, she further devoted her energies to the collection and preservation of knowledge in the form of libraries around the kingdom. Wherever she went, however, she would find some time alone and would delve through old books, trying to find any mention of the castle beyond the wood.

It was a year before she thought to ask after legends surrounding the it. From the first time she had heard of the Impassable Forest, she had heard the ghost stories surrounding it, but had always passed them off as fanciful tales. However, as the locals began to tell stories of sorcerers and witches meeting there beneath the full moon, or ogres who carried little children away behind its walls, the ghosts began to seem more and more likely.

Finally, there came a day when the frustration overwhelmed her. On her next visit to Oshibana, the Princess slipped away from her ever-present fairy guardians and made her way to towards the darkness on the horizon that had haunted her for two years.

Of all the stories she had heard, one thing remained consistent: the trees and brambles that seemed to move out of their way to impede any process. Levy was not looking forward to fighting her way through, but she had a stubborn streak a mile wide and she wasn’t about to let it get in the way of finally getting down to the bottom of this mystery.

Several hours later, she finally stood before the rather intimidating wall of plantlife. Setting her jaw, Levy strode forward, lifting her arms to prepare for the inevitable onslaught she would receive at the thorns of the brambles. Shockingly, however, no sooner would she brush against them than they would melt away. Eyes widening, she looked to the side and outstretched her arm, gasping as the branches, once again, moved away from her skin without leaving so much as a scratch.

Swallowing hard, Levy looked forward once again and felt nervousness began to creep up her spine for the first time, but she had come all this way. Setting her jaw once more, Levy straightened her back and took large strides forward before she lost her courage. As before, the vines melted in her presence, but they closed up behind her as well, cutting off any rescue attempts that might be made.

“Well, Levy,” she mumbled to herself, “looks like we’re in it for good, aren’t we?”

Sooner than she would have expected, considering the dense look of the forest’s exterior, she came upon a rather spacious, if dusty, courtyard. Inspite of the wilderness that surrounded it, the plants that made up the boundary had not touched this frozen place.

Levy felt her mouth open in a silent gasp, and tremors raced up her spine as the desire to flee made itself known in a large way. Strewn haphazardly about the courtyard, as though they had collapsed in the midst of their daily lives, were hundreds of people. Levy would have thought them freshly dead, if not for the thick layer of dust that covered even them.

“What happened here?” she murmured, her voice stirring the silence like a ripple in a still pond. As soon as she had spoken, the Princess snapped her mouth shut, determined not to make another sound. As unnatural as the silence was, her voice echoing through the still courtyard was even more so.

Swallowing hard, Levy turned and faced the doors leading to the castle. Fear clamored at her to go back, but her curiosity continued to war within, urging her onward. As per her usual, her curiosity won and she took her first tentative steps into the great hall.

Hours she spent, exploring the interior. The inside reflected the out in many ways. Here, too, people, objects, and animals lay strewn everywhere; each looking as they were asleep, and each covered in a layer of dust indicating their long presence there. Though she never fully got used to the silence that permeated everything, Levy slowly stopped feeling fear of it. Eventually, she reached the last tower to be explored. Huffing, puffing, and occasionally sneezing from the dust, the Princess ascended to the highest room in the tallest tower.

At the top of the stairs, an oaken door awaited her. Frowning, Levy reached forward and pushed it inward, wincing at the loud creaking that filled the room. Something struck her as odd about this room, before she realized what it was. It was the only room without dust, as though time had simply ceased to be. A shaft of sunlight cascaded in through the westward-facing window, illuminating the behemoth of a man who lay in almost a position of honor upon the bed in the center of the room.

Creeping forward towards the man, Levy tilted her head, taking in his appearance. Outdated? His clothing was positively archaic. She hadn’t seen designs like this except in the portraits of her great-great grandfather. His hair was long, dark, and terribly unruly. If she thought her curls were difficult to control, Levy had nothing on him. Her mouth tilting to the side in a moment of pity, she crept closer. Several somethings seemed to be gleaming on his face. Suddenly, she blinked as she realized just what those glimmers were. Piercings, 20 that she could count.

In her research, she had come across stories of a people who once lived in this region who had used piercings to mark the years of their childhood, but had never managed to have it verified. Now, ( _living?_ ) proof seemed to be before her eyes.

Reaching forward, Levy gingerly poked his shoulder. To her surprise, his skin was warm and, upon closer examination, she could see the faint rise and fall of his chest. _He was alive?_ Her curiosity rising with each moment, Levy leaned over him and gently shook his shoulder. No response. Pursing her lips, she shook a bit harder. Still nothing. Leaning back, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot, thinking of how to wake him.

One after another, she tried every idea that came to her. She poked and prodded, shouted and screamed, even tried tickling and pouring water from the skin at her waist. Absolutely no response.

Growling in annoyance, she jumped onto the bed next to him and stared at the ceiling, hands on her stomach.

“Sheesh, not much of a view here, is there? Course, you must not need a view if you never frickin’ wake up.” She mumbled, not sure if she was talking to the doorknob at her side or to herself. Possibly both.

Sighing in frustration, she turned and leaned over him again, glaring down at his slumbering face as she tried to think of her next step---until she heard a groan.

Blinking, she looked around, for the first time the thought appearing in her mind that the castle might be haunted after all. And then the snap came. With a shudder, the bed, old even before the Prince fell into his sleep, and now just barely holding together, finally collapsed under the added weight of the Princess, sending them falling and, to her eternal embarrassment, her lips crashing onto his.

Whipping her head back, Levy scrunched her eyes closed and threw a hand over her mouth, groaning at the pain. Was that blood she tasted? Standing up and getting herself off that godforsaken bed, Levy pulled her hand away and glared at the red sheen on her palm. It seemed as though she had bitten into her lip on the fall.

Suddenly, she heard another groan behind her. Her back straightening in nervousness, her first thought this time was that maybe the floor was going to be next and how stupid this entire idea was, until the thought occurred to her that the noise had been a lot closer and much more human sounding. Slowly turning around, she swallowed as hazel eyes met red.

“Umm.” she began,

“Oy, what’re you doing in my room? What am _I_ doing in my room? And why am I wet?” a gruff voice rumbled.

Levy was shell-shocked at first that he could really be this obtuse, and then her temper kicked in. Growling, Levy whirled around to fully face him. “Your room? That's all you can ask about? I literally just got the absolute _largest_ scare of my life because I’m an idiot who couldn’t stop being curious for three seconds, so I come here, find an abandoned castle in my kingdom that absolutely _no one_ knows anything about, discover what appear to be hundreds of people who just dropped dead but no decay anywhere, climb hundreds of stairs, find you, try to wake you up but you won’t wake until the freakin’ bed _collapses_ and now, in spite of all this effort on my part, you’re saying you don’t know _anything_? Just how useless are you?!” she ranted, heaving deep breaths.

The man just sat there blinking in confusion, before some glimmer of realization seemed to dawn in the depths of his eyes.

“Wait, I think I remember my da mentioning something about this. Sleeping curse thing, right? Well, if that’s the case, it sure took you long enough to get here, and all I get for my trouble is a shrimp?”

Levy was speechless for the first time in her life. Here she was, speaking with a man she had never met in the entirety of her life because, presumably, all he’d been napping in this room all that time, and he had the gall to say it was _his_ trouble and to insult her height on top of it!

“Now listen here, you,” she began, her voice dangerously low.

He didn’t seem to notice as he interrupted her, however, his gaze focusing on the trail of red that glazed her lips. “Hey, how’d that happen?” he said, standing and pointing towards her mouth, dwarfing her in the process.

Her irritation increased as she realized just how much taller he was---so, to him, she guessed she really was a shrimp---before the location of his focus dawned on her. With a furious blush, she whirled around and began to stalk from the room.

“Yo, answer me!” He called as he stumbled forward, his legs not quite used to walking again, and grabbed her arm. “I’m not completely helpless, ya know, and it doesn’t quite sit right to let someone who’s hurt just walk away.”

Levy paused and glanced back at him for several moments, before she looked away and she mumbled something under her breath.

Putting one hand on the wall for support, the man circled the girl and raised one eyebrow at her. “Didn’t catch that, shrimp.”

“I said the bed! And don’t call me that!” she growled as her head jerked upwards so she could glare at him.

Rolling his eyes at her temper, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth. “Here, wipe some of that up. I’m guessing it’s probably stopped bleeding by now, right?”

Grudgingly, she nodded and took the handkerchief, cleaning the now drying blood from her mouth and hand.

“Okay, shrimp, I kinda got the story, but really, who’re you and what’re you doing in my room?”

Pursing her lips, Levy was tempted to not tell him anything and just leave, but that would be rude. But he had been rude first, right? But he’d also been kinda nice. Wrinkling her nose, she finally sighed. “I’m Levy McGarden. I’m the Princess of this kingdom and I’m here because I was curious about the castle beyond the wood. I couldn’t find any satisfactory reports about it in the kingdom’s archives or in local legends, so I decided to come here myself. Happy?”

Glancing out the window and finally seeing the dense forest that had grown around his home, the prince raised his eyebrows at the girl before him. “You battled through that for the sake of curiosity?”

“What’s with that look? Do you think I’m lying just ‘cause I’m a girl??” Levy prickled.

“Whoa, whoa, shorty, hold on,” he said, holding up his hands in a gesture of appeasement, “I’m just saying like it seems like a lot of effort just ‘cause ya want to know something. I’m actually a bit impressed. The name’s Gajeel, by the by, Gajeel Redfox, and not to contest ya or anything, but I’m the Prince of this land.” He added, raising an eyebrow again.

Putting the prince thing to the back of her mind for later, Levy asked the biggest question itching at her throat, “How long have you been here? It seems to have been at least a century, but forgive me if that seems a bit ludicrous.”

“Nope, century seems about right."

At her look of disbelief, the Prince raised his hands once more, "Hey hey, I’m not the one who made the rules. I just remember my father saying something about it to me once upon a time before I ran off to do other things.”

“That kinda seems like an important conversation. Why’d you just run off?” Levy couldn’t stop the dryness from creeping into her voice.

“Eh, I was fifteen with tons better crap to do than listen to my father. You can’t tell me you haven’t done the same before.”

Just as Levy was about to retort, a knock came at the door, making her jump in shock.

“Your highness? Are you in there? Are you awake?” a boy’s voice inquired, before a scraggly, dark head appeared through the cracked doorway.

“Ah, Rouge, yeah, I’m awake. Meet Princess Levy.” He cast a glance at the girl out of the corner of his eye, glad to see her shock was keeping her quiet for now. For sure, she was the loudest princess he had ever met. Of course, she was also the first to go toe to toe with him, but he’d sooner fall asleep for another century than admit that.

Blinking, Levy began to sweep into a curtsey, before remembering she was wearing leggings at the moment and trying to correct into a bow. The entire thing combined to make her look ridiculous and put her off balance to the point where she tripped and fell managing to land against the rather large and warm chest of the man behind her.

Blushing furiously for the second time in only a few minutes, she scrambled to pull herself upright once again.

“Geehee,” she heard a laugh rumble behind her. Turning, Levy glared at the so-called prince, about to yell at him again until a loud rumble filled the room. Her ire falling away immediately, Levy cast startled glances between Gajeel’s suddenly red face and the stomach that had made the noise. While a part of her was happy that he was finally feeling some sort of embarrassment, another came to the realization that, if he was telling the truth, he hadn’t eaten in roughly 100 years. Suddenly feeling guilty, Levy reached into a small pouch at her side and pulled out some dried jerky, offering it to him.

With a grin, he took the meat and devoured it in nearly one bite before ruffling her hair. “Thanks, Shrimp, now how about we go see if this place has any other food?”

 

* * *

 

Several hours later, seven fairies meandered their way through the now open forest, laughing and talking beneath the moon that shone brightly above them. Very soon, they came upon the castle at the center. Torches lit the gateway for the first time in a century, and the Seven were glad to see it. While none would mention it, all had worried at some point or another that some crucial factor had been missed; that the curse would never be broken, but now here it was, living proof to the contrary standing before them.

The followed the laughter and clinking, coming to the great hall where a feast---part celebratory and part to assuage the hunger of a hundred years---seemed underway. At the head table, in the positions of honor, sat Levy and Gajeel (looking just as she had left him, Mavis was happy to note).

For her part, Levy had begun to calm down and figure out the humor of the man at her side, and even began to participate. Contrary to what she might have thought from her first impression, he was actually rather funny, and she enjoyed talking with him.

“Everyone!” Levy suddenly shouted as she spotted her companions in the doorway, her good humor fading slightly as she remembered to feel guilty for slipping away.

Laughing, the fairies made their way forward, ignoring the whispers and looks of respect that filled the gazes of those they passed.

“Sorry for leaving you guys,” she murmured, not looking at them as they reached the front of the hall and stood before the Prince and Princess.

The fairies all shared a glance, and some burst out laughing while others adopted mirroring images of guilt.

“Well, Levy,” Juvia began.

“We knew where you were off to the entire time. Sorta planned on it, actually,” Gray burst in, shrugging nonchalantly.

Blinking, Levy looked back at Gajeel, only to see the same confused expression on his face.

Refusing to clarify immediately, the fairies took their places beside the Prince and Princess, and, as the meal commenced, they explained the entire story as well as their parts in it. At the end, Levy had to laugh a little, and readily accepted the apologies they offered for not being much help before.

Gajeel, on the other hand, was digging into his food with relish. To the shock of the fairies as they stared at him in mild disgust, he did not have the table manners of a prince.

Leaning over to her right, Lucy whispered, “I thought Gray gave him charm,”

From a bit further down the table came a horrified murmur in return, “I _did_ ,”

Levy overheard as she watched Gajeel and, without really thinking responded, “I think he’s perfectly charming.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she said, and Levy whirled to face the shocked, and then maniacal grin on Lucy’s face. “That’s not what it sounded like,” she began.

With a dreamy expression as her gaze turned to Gray, Juvia chimed in with, “Well that’s love for you,”

There was much laughter from the fairies, and much more sputtering and denial from Levy, but the kicker was when Gajeel slung an arm around her shoulder and grinned.

“How about we repeat what woke me up?” he asked as he leaned in closer to her.

With a shriek as her fight or flight response kicked in, Levy closed her eyes, heard a loud thud, and the next thing she knew, Gajeel was laying with his head on the table, a dazed look in his eyes and a red mark growing on his forehead.

Levy blinked in surprise, before regaining her composure and smiling calmly. “How about you focus on getting me to like you, first?” she asked him.

A slow grin appeared on his face as he pulled himself back into a sitting position. “Hey, any girl who can pull that one off on me deserves the effort. Ya got yourself a deal, Shrimp.”

All efforts towards composure now firmly erased, a blush once again suffused her face. Hazel eyes once again met Ruby, one filled with annoyance and the other with anticipation; A Princess and Prince, later Queen and King, who would continue to battle and love each other for years to come and so, with that, they lived happily ever after.


End file.
